Recently Filed in Film

I stumbled across a great short film today: "The Plight of Clownana." It's very funny and off-beat, and best of all you can watch the full length on their Web site. I just wish they offered a higher resolution version to download—I'm sure there are nuances of the dance-off that I missed. According to an IMDB post by "cbdowling" (unverified as Chris Dowling the writer/director/narrator) Jensen Ackles is driving,  Riley Smith throws the drink, Christian Kane gets beat up by DM and Kris Polaha is fourth in the jeep. 

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The trailers for Nickelodeon's "Barnyard" coming out in August depict a group of 4 cows who have very male voices—and udders. How many people forgot to mention the emperor was running around without clothes?

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If you like films with quirks, find your local film festival!

Not only do you get to see some of the most creative films generated by the industry, you encourage the creation of cinema that isn't calculated to appeal to the greatest possible audience by catering to the lowest common denominator. Yes, some of the films are rough, but you'll also find gems by up-and-coming talent. You'll also find films with impressive casts whose established actors are there because they found the project interesting.

While we all know about Sundance and Cannes, there are many local film festivals to attend. You can find a staggering international list at Inside Film Online.

Here in Seattle we're just wrapping up SIFF, and it's been wonderful going to screenings. They did a great job this year with their Web site, providing a good system for identifying films of interest and winnowing that list down to something feasible. This is a non-trivial task—today, a Thursday has 18 screenings and this goes on for weeks. Their ticket system also allows the purchase of will call tickets up to 30 minutes before a showing, and you can pick up tickets for multiple venues at any box office.

Next year I look forward to even more shows. The only thing I'll do differently is load up on as many immune boosters as I can before it starts! I've missed two of my films because of a cold caught at one of the screenings.

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